


Ten Letters

by JoJo



Series: Honeymoon Trail [11]
Category: Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Epistolary, M/M, Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-03
Updated: 2013-01-03
Packaged: 2017-11-23 13:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 3,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/622742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoJo/pseuds/JoJo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who's saying what to whom</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Relative

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Fara and Randi for the beta! Any errors and time glitches my own.
> 
> This is also fulfillment of the [ten_letters](http://10-letters.dreamwidth.org/profile) challenge on DW, as well as fulfilling 'Vin's wagon' on my Bingo card :)

March 15th, 1874  
Four Corners

 

Dearest Mother,

I hope this letter finds you well. Indeed, I hope this letter finds you at all. You are still in the St. Louis area I suppose, or is our correspondence crossing once again? Anyhow, with assurances of my own continuing health I write to request some information.

Now recently I have acquired a lady friend (and knowing how your hopes will soar, I must at once underline that when I write ‘friend’ that is, truly, all I mean. Truly, Mother. Nothing has changed.) This lady is new to our town, inexperienced in romantic affairs, and finds herself on the brink of an unexpected marriage. She is of a particular disposition that frankly renders a relationship with the other ladies of this burg somewhat difficult. You know how it goes, having been here yourself. To state the case plainly, she has no natural acquaintances here although naturally I have tried to lend a brotherly ear to her problems. 

So yes, this lady is intending to wed. Her fiancé is a widower who spends much time in the company of other men, or horses. Scarcely a catch, I can hear you say, but much as I deplore her choice and fear for her long-term happiness, my lady friend is wholly committed to this difficult gentleman. I do believe she would do just about anything to prove the depth of her feelings and make him happy again. I am not convinced the prospective groom can see any of this, but that, as they say, is another story altogether. 

So, for good or bad, the lady in question has fallen into the habit of consulting me on affairs sartorial. Actually the specifics she seeks should be more than familiar to me after that affair we pulled off in Georgetown, but it strikes me that with your enthusiasm for nuptials it might be even more familiar to you. We are agreed on green silk poplin for evening wear, a choice I am sure you would endorse. She is also wondering about an alluring touch for the honeymoon, if you get my meaning. In that regard, can you remind me by return the name of that supplier of French undergarments we have used before? And indeed, any other advice you may have as to how to impress a new husband.

In the meantime, do take care, Mother, and know that I remain always your affectionate son,

Ezra P. Standish


	2. Hero

April 21st 1874  
Four Corners

Dear Mr. Larabee,

This is just a note and not a long letter. There is no important news from here, the weather is fair and there’s been no bad trouble. Now I’m not sure what’s going on, but figure better to write you and ask it straight than just sit here and imagin things all wrong.

You and Ezra have this plan, I get that, and that’s why you two left so sudden yesterday without saying much to any of us. The boys all know it’s a plan to flush out Miss Gaines. Well we are all behind that one all right! Only Buck won’t tell me what exactly – all I know is he’s mighty grumpy about it. Says Ezra is a fool and you are a worse one for going along with it. Worse than that we’ve hardly seen Vin lately. It’s almost like he’s about to leave. Reckon whatever you’ve told him has really got him worried, or angry. Just some word from you we could pass on next time he shows up would sure help.

Even when you cannot give an explanation for things right away, I know you always have one. And it always makes sense. I can’t think this plan is anything I wouldn’t back you up on. In case you wondered about that, well you have no worries there I can tell you. I would play any part in this you ask me to, but mostly would just like to know what’s happening.

Respectfully,

J. D. Dunne


	3. Boss

April 28th, 1874,  
Pine Tree Falls

Your Honor,

While I don’t want to presume on your time or position, I have to write and let you know of some bad trouble we’re in and how we could certainly use your help.

Now I know you were dead set against Chris going off after the Gaines woman, but in the end she came to him. I swear that was how it happened! He and Ezra were here on a job and she turned up of her own free will. You know from what we showed you before that she’s crazy. The story’s kind of complicated, but the main thing is she shot Ezra. 

Although she’s now behind bars (Sheriff T. Bundy in charge here, you may know him?) she’s claiming it was self defense and Chris came after her, which is a plain lie. She has some lawyers on her side though, and you can guess how crooked they’ll turn out. At the moment it looks like she may wriggle free, and get Chris locked up instead. 

It’s a mess and we need a cool head and a voice of reason and experience. We need you here, Judge, soon as you can if there’s any way at all you can make it.

Hoping we’ve done enough to warrant your support now, 

Respectfully,  
W. J. Wilmington

P.S. Ezra hurt real bad. May not survive.


	4. Best Friend

April 27th, 1874  
Four Corners

Brother Nathan,

Your telegram arrived yesterday and I never had so many questions to a line or two of simple text in my life. Not even the Good Lord’s word is as inscrutable as the message you sent. Buck has wired with further information which filled in a few of the gaps, but only a few in truth. Despite the heavy news, all I can think is thank God you and Vin arrived when you did. The consequences of you having been further delayed do not bear thinking about.

Of course it pains me to learn Ezra is so badly wounded – I haven’t told J.D. the half of what I suspect to be true about either his condition or the circumstances that led to the violence. All I am certain of, after having thought it through, is that Ezra is paying a heavy price for attempting such a deception with one so dangerous. Too heavy, despite the moral wrongs involved. The Lord knows that Chris is paying a heavy price too, perhaps even heavier in some ways. I am more thankful than you can know that he has Buck and Vin with him, although I worry at the burden they may have to carry. Buck has sad experience, and tried and tested methods of finding his own solace. I am not so sure about Vin, who I fear will suffer on Chris’s behalf, in silence. You have so many cares at present I hesitate to ask it of you, but I would be deeply obliged if you kept a special eye on Vin too. 

Keep the faith, Brother. I miss being able to support you. Know that I am praying for you all, and that John Dunne and myself will be arriving as soon as we are able to leave the town at least partway secure. 

Affectionately yours,  
Josiah Sanchez.


	5. Mentor

April 29th, 1874,  
Pine Tree Falls

Dear Doctor Smithson,

You may remember me – I am the healer who came to your lecture in Denver October last, the one on blood sepsis. My name is Nathan Jackson and you gave me a generous amount of your time then even though I wasn’t welcomed by all your colleagues. I have read every paper you ever wrote. Like I said at the time, I don’t have access to many texts so am grateful for all those you’ve sent.

Excuse my poor reporting, but I have a patient (also a friend) who sustained a deep gunshot wound to the lower left chest three days ago. The bullet went in just below the fifth rib and there was rupture of the hemidiaphragm (repaired) and rib damage. The bullet was removed within two hours, and the stitching was checked over by a qualified surgeon. Major organs weren’t affected but the patient suffered severe blood loss and he’s been unconscious ever since the shooting. Although the wound seems clean and free from infection, my friend suffers respiratory depression and fever. The surgeon says there’s no more to be done, but he also said my friend probably wouldn’t last the first night and he did.

You’ve encouraged me before to have confidence and think laterally. But I reckon I need more than that now. 

Any advice or suggestion you can give me would be gratefully received. There are many reasons personal to me and other friends of ours that I desperately don’t want to lose this patient.

Yours in hope,  
Nathan Jackson.


	6. Stranger

May 1st, 1874, Four Corners

Sirs,

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mrs. Travis and I write to you in my professional capacity as editor of our local newspaper, _The Clarion News_ , in respect of one of your shareholders, a Miss Ella Gaines. You may be aware of what has been reported in the _Pine Tree Falls Gazette_ recently involving Miss Gaines and a regulator from our town. I hope to publish as many corroborated facts as possible in an upcoming article disputing some of what has been written.

As far as I understand, Miss Gaines has been associated with Culpeper Mining for a number of years and therefore there must be one among your directors or employers who may have more than a passing acquaintance with her.

I am hoping you may be able to give me some details as to how and where you first met Miss Gaines; something of her history perhaps; and if you have satisfactory records of her honesty in dealing both with yourselves and your employees; what you know, if anything, of her association with our regulator, Mr. Christopher Larabee; and if you have any knowledge of where I might obtain records of her ownership of a failed liquor business.

If you are not comfortable passing information in letter form, I would be happy to travel to speak with you, although I should stress that my need for whatever information you are able to provide is very urgent.

Anyone who might wish to pass on information may also do so via the telegraph office in Four Corners.

Thanking you for your attention, I am, 

Sincerely yours,  
Mary L. Travis, Editor, Clarion News


	7. Politician

April 29th, 1874  
Denver

Dear Orrin,

This ought to be an official letter of reprimand, or worse, but frankly I am giving you the benefit of the doubt one last time.

You know I have never been keen on the form of security you set up in that town of yours. Or that you were happy to have at least two known felons on your books in Tanner and Standish (never mind that disgraced priest). And all this unauthorized peacekeeping being led by a man only too happy to be a hired gun. I thought you were making a mistake when I was told about it, and then when I met Larabee, who I found threatening and irrational, I thought you’d lost your mind! Recent events hardly make me feel more confident and need I remind you of how close your own lovely daughter-in-law came to being killed because of Larabee and his men’s ineptness?

Now I hear that this seven are in some kind of “situation”. It is hard to find the right word to describe some of the things that have been reported. I have heard, for instance, of the shooting of a woman, about the Sheriff of Pine Tree Falls being aggressed by your men. Most of all, and most troubling, I’ve heard that Larabee and Standish entrapped the woman by engaging in what I can only term transgressive behavior. They allegedly performed some disturbing pantomime that to my mind is not entertaining at all. On the contrary, it makes me sick to my stomach to think about it. I am disgusted and outraged on behalf of all the decent, right-thinking citizens forced to witness.

What the Hell is going on out there?? You really need to let me know, and what part you are playing. I have always respected your unorthodox methods before, since you got results. This, though, is entirely different. The business between Standish and Larabee is more than eccentric. It smacks of pure wickedness and I need to know you are not associated with it, or condoning it in any way.

Please advise your intentions.

With gravest concerns,

Governor T. Hopewell


	8. Lover

May 2nd, 1874

My Beloved Husband,

I take up my pen to write, missing your presence by my side so very much. I hope you received the gifts I sent and that they make your incarceration, and our separation, easier to bear.

Dearest, your situation may seem hopeless and you may blame me for some of it. If so, believe me when I say that any perceived wrong was only for the sake of our union. Truly, I have never sought to hurt you or drive you away. God knows I would do anything to keep you safe. You know I have always loved you and what our marriage means to me. I believe in my heart of hearts that you feel as I do, and it will gladden you to know I am more determined than ever to find a way for us to be together. 

Admittedly, things got out of hand last time we met and some of my employees suffered fatal harm at your hand. What you have done since then has been even more painful to me. However, all capital charges will be dropped, and all witness statements about your aberrant behavior will be withdrawn, the moment you choose to reaffirm what we are to one another. And I know you will. Never forget our enduring love is already consummated, and that will bind us forever. Just think what we could be together in future, with security, property, children... Remember the plans we made long ago! Those promises can never be unsaid.

Once you have made your decision and communicated it to me, nothing will remain to trouble us – not even that man. I know he has duped you, darling, and I shrink from even mentioning him. But despite the pain you allow him and his accomplices to cause me, I forgive you. God knows I would forgive you everything, always! Have faith that nothing and nobody can separate us in the end. 

I remain forever your loving wife,

Ella


	9. Enemy

May 2nd, 1874

Mr. Wilmington,

This is in response to your outburst today. Since you would not allow me space to speak to you, I wanted to put down on paper what I would have you and your friends know.

There are three things:

First, that, whatever you might wish, and whatever he is saying now, in the end Chris will not turn against me. He is committed to being my husband, as he always has been. Furthermore, it is a matter of record that you are a serial disrupter of his private life, a fact he has bemoaned on many occasions. He is tired of you, as am I. You should also note that although you may have stolen a great deal of personal property from our house that you would try to use against us, for every one item your Judge Travis will swear shows our bond to be a fantasy, I have two boxes full of love tokens and letters that prove the opposite.

Secondly, you should not stay around waiting to dissuade him from being with me. I know all about your talents with a pistol, and how I am probably in the sights of that bounty hunter of yours. However, none of this is any legal business of you or any of the rest of your gang (who I see are all arriving to play soldiers for Chris once again). And in any case, I have twice as many protectors at my back, all of whom know how to permanently remove undesirables like you, Tanner and the rest from town. 

Thirdly, that I will not tolerate that creature Standish anymore. Nor will the law of the land or God’s final Judgement. 

Understand most of all that what I cannot tolerate, I will have eliminated.

With concern for my husband,  
Ella Gaines Larabee


	10. Student

May 2nd, 1874

Dear J.D.,

With luck this will reach you before your journey out here. Sorry to take so long to reply but things have been rough. I hope your confidence in my ability to explain things to you is not misplaced. I know you think of me as some kind of good example, some kind of teacher, but after this you may not feel that way any longer.

Here we’re holding on to the fact that Ezra has regained his senses. I don’t know what Josiah told you but we were pretty sure we’d lost him. I was sure anyhow, even though Nathan and the boys might tell you they always held out hope. While I’m still not the optimistic kind to assure you he’ll be fine, things aren’t so bad as they were.

So you want the story? The story goes like this: Just like we wanted, shortly after Ezra and I arrived here, E.G. came to find us. She was wounded, not too seriously, after confronting Ezra with a loaded pistol. I got there only a second or two later. By some kind of luck Nathan and Vin had arrived in time to hear the shots. Thanks to Nathan Ezra didn’t bleed to death on the hotel floor from the bullet she put in him, and thanks to Vin she was arrested and imprisoned - as she deserves. However, E.G. was bailed and walked free. As per the telegraph to Josiah, it’s important that when you come, you bring Vin’s wagon. Fully stocked and armed. I know this will add time we can’t afford but it’s vital. Although he’s in no condition to travel or protect himself I need Ezra out of here, soon as possible. I can’t stress this enough, or the importance of your role in keeping him safe. If you think I’ve taught you anything, now’s the time to use it.

As for me, I can’t do much. You’ll know from Buck I’m in custody, charged with her attempted murder, etc., etc., etc. All I can tell you for sure is that the law has no goddamned balls, brains or guts in this part of the world far as I can see.

And as for how this all came about, and the plan Buck and Vin didn’t care for, well I can’t tell you more at present. Not because you’re too young or don’t deserve to know, but actually because you deserve it to be told right. Trust me when I say it’s so important it must wait until Ezra and I are able to sit you down with a shot of whiskey, and tell you together.

Have to finish now.  
Yrs,  
C. L.


End file.
